Bill Clinton’s Convention Role

The drama continues. At Politico, John Harris and Mike Allen report that mistrust and resentments have “continued to boil” between the Obama and Clinton camps, and note this new source of friction:

One flashpoint is the assigned speech topic for former president Bill Clinton, who is scheduled to speak Wednesday night, when the convention theme is “Securing America’s Future.” The night’s speakers will argue that Obama would be a more effective commander in chief than his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas — emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own record in the 1990s.

This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms.

After the story was published, the two sides issued a joint statement suggesting they are getting along just fine, thank you, but on this one, my hunch is Politico is right. I recall that in 2000, Gore aides told me they had no more delicate convention task than telling the Clintons that they wanted them to make an appearance and leave.